Comedy | July 31, 2010 | 8 comments

Coney Island’s Grand Past: A Requiem for an American Icon

source: http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/coney-islands-grand-past-a-requiem-for-an-americ...

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Coney Island is nearing its final days, swirling ever-more deeply into a dismal state of disrepair. Soon the bulldozers will be back again, pushing over the last weathered links to the past, spelling the demise, once and for all, of the city’s most iconic neighborhood. Coney Island was always a place where you could drink beer, “shoot a freak,” see a geek, see a burlesque show, see fish, catch fish, eat fish, ride the Cyclone, ride the waves, win a kewpie doll, play Skee-Ball, go to a ballgame, see a band and lie on the sand. It was the last stand of the morally doubtful, the last place where one could feel the openness and energy of New York City in the 1970s, but stripped of the accompanying dread of crime and decay.

Now the city administration and wealthy developers have set into motion their master plans to rescue everyone from all of that, constructing at least four luxury hotels as high as 30 stories tall and as many as 26 residential towers to house wealthy residents paying top dollar for their condos. The real tragedy of Coney Island’s destruction is one that carries a much broader social message, it symbolizes the devastation of what had been since the mid-1800s a haven for waves of immigrant peoples, for the poor and for those who have been forced to exist on the outer-margins of society. And that is the real catastrophe.

This piece includes a number of remarkable vintage photographs, a memorable slide show, two documentary short films and two music videos.

http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/coney-islands-grand-past-a-requiem-f...
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8 comments // Coney Island’s Grand Past: A Requiem for an American Icon

  • eden49
    • +1
      eden49  

    • ...this is so sad...what an icon...down under, albeit not on the scale of Coney Island, we preserved Luna Park for all time, and it stands on prime harbour real estate...Coney Island should be heritage listed...I'm sad for the loss...thanks for posting "Disembedded"...

    • 1 year ago
  • disembedded
    • +2
      disembedded  
    • eden49:

      Hi eden49,

      Yes, I very much agree with you...it's really a heartbreaking loss for so many people, and a tragedy made so much more unbearable by the callous lack of any sense of genuine empathy on the part of the wealthy tycoons whose narrow-minded visions refuse to acknowledge the value of anything but their own immediate pursuit of large financial profits, as well as the creation of fabricated airs of so-called "social status" within which they haughtily ensconce themselves.

      Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments.

    • 1 year ago
  • disembedded
  • EdJoyProductions
    • +1
      EdJoyProductions  
    • disembedded:

      If you are in the area, you should visit the Coney Island Museum. It has some fun artifacts and wonderful pictures. I am sad about what is happening to Coney because I spent much of my childhood there, but no good thing can last forever.

    • 1 year ago
  • disembedded
    • +1
      disembedded  
    • EdJoyProductions:

      Hi EdJoyProductions,

      Actually, I've been living in Chicago for many years, although I did two year-long rather surreal sojourns in NYC (1965-66 and 1984-85). But I have been through all the material that the Coney Island Museum has posted on its website...and you're right, it's fascinating stuff.

      Best wishes to you.

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • disembedded
    • +1
      disembedded  

    • Hi Jolosturo,

      I'm very pleased that you found this posting rewarding. Thanks very much for your kind comments.

      Best wishes to you.

    • 1 year ago
  • Jolosturo
    • +1
      Jolosturo  

    • Thanks. I lived in Brooklyn for many years between the 50s and the 70s. When I was a young teen I hung out at Coney Island, one summer. I met a guy who ran the Bust-a-balloon game and he let me hang with him. My baby sister was our chaperone. It was a great summer and a great experience. Good memories. Again--thanks.

    • 1 year ago
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